The Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy (ICYFP) brings together faculty, research staff, and students in activities that foster the well-being of children, adolescents, and their families. Its affiliated research centers are
the Center for Youth and Communities (CYC), the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, and the Nathan and Toby Starr Center for Mental Retardation.

Director: Dr. Lorraine V. Klerman

The Institute is interdisciplinary in focus, with representation from medicine, psychology, public health, social work, sociology, and social policy. The Institute conducts policy and policy-relevant research, promotes active public engagement, and contributes to the teaching activities of the Heller School. Many of its projects, which are supported by various foundations and the federal government, involve collaboration with other research centers both inside and outside of Brandeis.

Established in 1990 through gifts from the Rapaporte Foundation and the family of Barbara Fish Lee, the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy has subsequently received philanthropic support from the Frank and Theresa Caplan Endowment for Early Childhood and Parenting Education, the family of Sol C. Chaikin, and the family of Judith Krieger Gardner. The Institute uses these funds to support research development grants, Judy's Week (a highly-interactive, two-day education program devoted to some aspect of child or family policy), doctoral fellowships, student travel to make presentations at meetings, and other activities.

ICYFP has a wide-ranging portfolio of research and public engagement projects dealing with vulnerable or disenfranchised populations, reflecting the school's dedication to the concept of knowledge advancing social justice. There are three main foci: early childhood, adolescents, and families.

Institute Research on Early Childhood

Studies about early childhood have been stimulated by the landmark report, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development, co-edited by Dr. Jack Shonkoff, who was Dean of The Heller School at the time of its publication. Examples of these studies are listed below.

Massachusetts Early Childhood Linkage Initiative

The Institute's Massachusetts Early Childhood Linkage Initiative (MECLI) implemented one of the report's recommendations. MECLI was a pilot study designed to establish a formal link between the child protection system and Early Intervention (EI) at three of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services' (DSS) area offices. Children under three years of age with newly-opened child protection cases were referred to the EI system, which was established by Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

In addition to facilitating the establishment of the linkage, the Initiative collected data on DSS' offering of referrals and the results of the referrals, as well as the rate of engagement of the referred children and families by the EI system. Also analyzed were eligibility rates and types, and service plan and service delivery data by type, cost, and payor. The Initiative has enabled its researchers to project the workload and cost impacts on the EI system of universal referral of children under the age of three in the child protection system. Recent legislation requires that states develop policies and procedures for referrals from child protective service agencies to EI.

Other Research Projects

Institute faculty members are assisting the CVS/pharmacy Charitable Trust in the implementation of its CVS All Kids Can™ initiative, whose aim is to assist children with disabilities to learn, play and succeed.

Other projects in the early childhood field include:

• A series of studies of family adaptation to having a child with a disability
• A study of the parenting practices of teenage mothers, being conducted collaboratively with four other universities
• An evaluation of a state program for substance-exposed newborns.

Institute Research on Adolescents

PSD Study

Professor Elizabeth Goodman is heading an inter-institutional, multi-disciplinary team of experts to study the relationships between social stratification and development of physiological and psychological cardiovascular disease risks in a longitudinal cohort study of junior and senior high school students in the Princeton School District in Ohio. A major focus of this study is to understand how the stress associated with living in a lower-status environment, regardless of whether that status is defined by race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status, creates social inequalities in health.

Other Research Projects

Other projects in the adolescence field include:

• Analyses of policies and programs to prevent teen pregnancy
• Studies of the acculturation and adjustment of minority youth
• An analysis of fire-setting behavior.

Many other youth-related projects are conducted through one of the ICYFP's affiliated centers, The Center for Youth and Communities (CYC).

Institute Research on Families

The Evaluation of Connecting Families

Connecting Families is a pilot program funded by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS). Connecting Families serves families who have been investi- gated by DSS due to allegations of child abuse and/or neglect, but whose circumstances do not reach the threshold for ongoing government intervention. These are called "unsupported cases." Studies have shown that many families with unsupported cases are re-reported to DSS.

The goal of Connecting Families is to keep children safe and strengthen families and, in this way, prevent future contact with the public child welfare system. The program seeks to accomplish this by intervening early, providing needed services and supports, and linking families to community resources. ICYFP is evaluating this program at five sites.

The MSPCC website has more details.

Other Research Projects

Family-focused research also includes studies that have:

• Examined the impact of welfare reform on families
• Traced the life course of career-involved women and family-involved men
• Reviewed work and family policies in Western societies.